


better than any sunrise

by staysharp



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Hope you like it!, M/M, Model Lance, SO, and my brain was like, because i can't write anything under 4k, fashion photographer keith, i loved the concept of this, i need to take a break lol, its that go big or go home mentality, so steph here's 2.4k more than promised, this is ur next big one but like, y'all know what this is, yeet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-25 21:28:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13221615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/staysharp/pseuds/staysharp
Summary: “He’s Lance McClain, Keith! Lance!”Keith shrugged.Allura smacked him in the arm with the folder.“Hey!”“You’re a fashion photographer! It’s your job to know who people are!” Allura dropped the folder on his desk. “Listen, this guy, he’s who’s in right now. Forget florals, it’s him."





	better than any sunrise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thegirlinthefandom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirlinthefandom/gifts).



> this is for steph, one of the sweetest people i've ever met and thank you so much for waiting for this

It was a particularly warm day towards the start of July but Keith didn’t really pay attention to the date.

It was too hot to think straight and since he never did, why bother to make the extra effort? After all, he had another client and just that, a beautiful client he would photograph and never talk to again. It wasn’t exactly a career meant for making friends.

“I can’t believe I got talked into this job,” Keith said, clicking through his pictures to see which ones were the best. “I was going to be a business major, you know? Not be paid to photograph unfairly gorgeous people for life.”

“Oh please, you like it or else you wouldn’t still be here.” Allura flipped through the file sitting on Keith’s desk. She stopped, eyes widening. “Keith, is this your next client?”

“Who, the McClain kid?” He looked away from the computer screen, seeing Allura’s face light up. She looked at him, expecting some sort of excitement in reciprocity and her smile vanished. “What?”

“He’s Lance McClain, Keith! Lance!”

Keith shrugged.

Allura smacked him in the arm with the folder.

“Hey!”

“You’re a fashion photographer! It’s your job to know who people are!” Allura dropped the folder on his desk. “Listen, this guy, he’s who’s in right now. Forget florals, it’s him. He’s who everyone would trade a limb to photograph! He’s only had one photographer and that guy quit! I knew he was looking for one but-” Allura turned sharply to look at Keith. “How long have you known he was going to be your client?”

“His people called like a week ago.” Keith opened the folder, taking in the headshot of the guy, beautiful as per the job required, with wavy brown hair and blue eyes. “I’m supposed to meet him today, in fact-”

“Listen to me Keith,” Allura grabbed Keith by the shoulders, “do not screw this up for us. This is like, if the queen herself wanted to have tea with us, a small business, and- how the hell he found us, I don’t know but Keith, I swear to all that is holy, please,-”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t mess it up.” He felt a twitch of annoyance but brushed it off as he gathered his things, placing them in his bag. “Don’t be so worried.” Lifting the strap, it went over his shoulder. “It’s just a model who happens to be in.” He turned to the door. “Nothing I haven’t dealt with before.”

Keith Kogane, to say little, was nothing short of a prodigy.

He’d won numerous photography contests throughout his youth and could’ve worked for any brand name fashion company he’d wanted. Vogue had called three times after he’d declined and Vanity Fair promised him a college fund for his future children. He’d laughed when he’d read that.

Something about being in the spotlight, however, was everything but desirable. So, in a way, he vanished when he graduated early, at the young age of 19, and moved somewhere deep in New York where the city lights were so blended that one had trouble telling them apart.

It came up, his hermit-like decision when he photographed one of the biggest stars, her questions making it hard to actually get the pictures taken. He smiled, tolerated it in the beginning but over the months, he learned it wasn’t his job to have to smile every second.

No, that was the model’s.

Keith felt everything replay in his head as he took the subway, chatter around him drowned out and then splashed all the way back in. The doors opened at his stop and he got out, moving with others into the surface world, where words were almost a commodity under the sun.

Walking quickly, he adjusted the strap and made his way across the street to the taller of the buildings in the area, walking through the glass doors of Altea, the best magazine publication under the bright blue sky at the moment. Keith bit the inside of his cheek as he saw people running back and forth across the lobby, carrying clothes and clipboards.

Weaving through everyone, he got to the front desk, where a young blonde looked at him. “Welcome to Altea. How can I help you?” She smiled in a friendly fashion.

“Hi, uh, I’m here to photograph McClain-”

“Follow me.” She stood up faster than he’d seen anyone do so and she exited from behind the desk. “Well, come on.” Keith made a face before walking after her into the elevator, with about five other people holding feathers and cloth and- “Today’s the day the prepping for fashion week starts.” The elevator door closed and Keith felt feathers up against his mouth.

“I see.” He moved his head back and it seemed like forever until they finally could leave. As he passed by the windows, he realized how tiny everything was. “We’re really high up.”

“Actually, fun fact, we’re underneath the top floor.”

“Oh, really?” Keith feigned a brief interested smile when she turned around.

“Yes, top floor is the editor in chief’s and this one is the model of the year’s- this is where they keep the outfits, the props, snacks, everything to the model’s liking.” She stopped in front of double doors, looking back at Keith. “After I announce you, you’re on your own.”

“Okay?” The doors opened and the blonde walked in.

“Excuse me, Mr. McClain.” Keith walked behind, observing the brown head of hair that faced the large mirror. “I have-

“Nyma, please. For you, it’s Lance.”

“Oh, please, you know I don’t swing that way.” Nyma crossed her arms and Keith cocked his head a little, waiting to see how everything played out. “Now, Lance, I’ve brought your photographer-”

“Keith Kogane.” Lance spun the chair around, almost as if he’d been waiting to do that. Keith raised a slight eyebrow, keeping his mouth in a pressed line. “So you’re him.” Lance McClain stood up, taller than Keith had been expecting. “The famous Keith.” He stepped towards him, until he was about a foot away. “The Kogane.”

“That’s me.” Keith felt that little twitch of annoyance come back. “Nice to meet you.”

Lance stepped closer, face dangerously close. “You’re a lot prettier than I expected.”

“Thanks.” Keith took a step back, clutching at his bag strap.

“Here’s the part where you’re supposed to compliment me back.”

“I’m sure you get plenty already-”

“Buddy, you have plenty of material to work with. There’s my eyes, some people said they wouldn’t mind drowning in, hair that’s soft like a cloud, a nice jawline, long legs like skyscrapers, and beautiful skin, you know, because my skin care regimen is-”

He kept going and Keith stood there in disbelief after observing all the parts of Lance that had been mentioned. He looked around, finding Nyma on her way out. She looked back at him, mouthed ‘good luck’ and smiled before she shut the door.

“-and I mean beauty isn’t only skin deep. There’s so much more about me, like personality-wise but anyways, getting off topic. So, what do you have to say about me?” Lance crossed his arms across his chest, his baby blue tee-shirt crinkling against his body.

“You have a way with words.” Keith smiled, briefly, then lost it. “So, why am I here?”

“Why?” Lance looked confused. “You’re here to photograph me, one and only, model of the year.”

He could hear Allura telling him to watch it in his head.

“I mean, what’s the uh theme for this shoot?” Keith switched his bag to his other shoulder. “Why me and for what, you know?”

“Oh, right. Well, since summer is almost over, Altea got in an early shipment of Marc Jacobs fall line, since they knew I’m exclusively attached to this magazine right now.” He moved his hands to his side, blue eyes trained on Keith. “So we’re looking for two excellent shots for each outfit, which is sixteen shots.” He smiled. “If you pull it off, I’m looking for someone to get my first fall fashion week.”

“Well, when I finish today, please know I’ll consider it to the best of my ability.”

Lance’s eyes widened slightly. “Consider it? Why wouldn’t you just take it-”

“I’m here to take pictures, Mr. McClain. Now, where has everything been set up?” Keith set down his bag and proceeded to tie his hair back. He looked back to find Lance still a little wide-eyed, only to look away quickly and Keith made nothing of it.

“Over here.”

The set up was simple, meant to emulate the clothes. Keith busied himself with his camera and equipment as Lance went to go change. Making sure everything was ready, Keith stood back up, wondering how he’d even been found in the first place.

“Okay, look one.” Keith turned around and found himself almost dropping his camera, which was a mistake.

“Good, right?” Lance looked at himself, swathed in a clean royal blue blazer and pants, with gold embroidery along the lapel. Against his neck was a silver chain and an charm of the sun, ornate in its face. A clean white shirt sat underneath, a scoop neck revealing his collar bones. “There seems to be a blue theme, which, I don’t mind.” He smiled, then looked at Keith.

“Right.” Keith blinked rapidly, then steadied it out as he looked down at the camera in his hands.

What the hell-

“Ok, Keith Kogane, what do I need to do?”

“Right, we should start with the sitting poses and work our way...from there.”

“You got it.”

Lance sat, legs splayed at first, looking at the camera as though it weren’t even there, as if there was nothing between the two of them. There were shutter clicks, mostly the only things that occupied the space and Keith moved once he felt the flow of things. Lance moved with him, moving to standing as Keith followed from side to side, neither of them speaking.

“That should be good for this one,” Keith finally said, shutting his camera off. “Now, for the next-”

Lance was gone and Keith’s finger itched to go back and see everything.

He didn’t know why.

They got halfway through the third outfit before Lance spoke. “Shouldn’t you be like giving me encouragement?”

“You want validation?”

“My previous photographer would say things like beautiful or perfect or whatnot.” Lance looked at Keith with his right hand on his hip in the pose Keith had asked for. “It helps, gives me an indication that I’m doing flawlessly, as usual.”

Keith paused, lowering the camera from his eye. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m not much of a talker.”

“Oh please, I bet you’re a softy under all that hard layering.” Lance angled his body differently and Keith rolled his eyes before raising the camera back up to where it had been. “I’m going to prove it and hold it over your head that I was the cause of your exposure.”

“We literally just met a couple hours ago.” Keith took a few more pictures. “Even my work friend of a few years can’t do that.” He stopped when Lance frowned. “Who do you think you are?”

“I’m going to do it.” He watched Lance through the lens. “Just you watch.”

They got through the rest of the outfits, with everything from Lance smiling more when he was supposed to be stoic and to him cracking awful jokes, such as “aw come on be a try pod, not a give up pod” when Keith mentioned that he was moving the camera off the tripod. He could feel the weariness creeping in and he was ready to crawl into bed.

“You’re a tough one to crack, you know that?” Keith rolled his eyes but capped it, knowing he would just have to get through one more outfit. “I mean, come on.” He turned and found Lance wearing tailored tan brown pants that were rolled near the ankle, a white button down tucked in at the waist. Over Lance’s shoulders was an almost shawl, almond brown but plaid interlaced with thin lines of mulberry running here and there.

“Where’s the-” Was all Keith could get out, with a hint of a stutter.

Lance held up his finger. He reached into his back pocket, pulling out round glasses, silver with obnoxious blue lenses. “They want me to wear them but I think they’re hideous so I’d rather just,” he slid them on top of his head, “you know, do the stylish thing.”

“I think you mean the fashionable thing.” And something slipped. Keith offered a small smile and Lance grinned. Keith realized and he dropped it immediately. “Okay, anyways, let’s go.”

“I got you!”

“Lance come on, I’m getting hungry and we’re almost done-”

“I got you.” Lance smiled, warm like the sun. “And when we’re done, let’s go out.”

“What?” Keith felt his camera slip from his fingers before fumbling to catch it.

“You know, let’s go get something to eat. I’m feeling kind of thirsty, too, Keith.”

“Sounds fine. Now, let’s do this.”

Keith took twenty some photos, all incredibly perfect but he didn’t know if that was him or if it was because of the subject. He flipped through some and got a little lost- so lost he didn’t realize Lance had leaned in over his shoulder after he’d finished changing. “Hey, yeah, these are really, really good.”

Keith jolted, turning his head to see the face he’d been looking at all day but way up close. Too close. He stepped away, turning off his camera. “Yeah, they all came out pretty good.” Kneeling, he found his bag and started putting the camera away. Once he was done, he grabbed his things.

“Ready?” Lance stood there, hands tucked in the pockets of his black jeans.

“Uh, sure.”

Stepping outside was a trip.

The sky was sinking into darkness and the lights, street and window, were surfacing again.

“Oh my god, how long-”

“It took us like five hours but you know what they say,” Lance paused to wink, “time flies when you’re having fun.”

Keith stared at the cars moving in another body of light, like a river. “Sure.”

“Man, you really are hard to keep open.”

Keith looked back and all of a sudden he remembered that they were in the diner, with orange honeyed lights keeping it easy on the eyes. “I’m sorry?”

Lance picked up a fry, pointing it towards the photographer. “I got you to smile and I’ve caught you a couple times, just being in awe of me and then the pictures-”

“Someone’s a little self-obsessed, aren’t they?” Keith focused on picking up his burger.

“It’s better to be madly in love with yourself than hate your own guts, right? I mean, trust me, it’s not all fucking butterflies and rainbows behind the lens.”

“Okay, you’re right, sorry-”

“I don’t know why, but I expected something different about you.” Lance laughed, a little harshly, and Keith looked at him. “That you would see my soul or some bullshit but you’re just like my last photographer. Think I’m nothing more than a narcissist.”

“Is that why they quit?”

“It’s why I fired them.” Lance got quiet, didn’t touch his food.

“Oh.”

“I just, it’s hard, being the center of attention because you have to act like you deserve it.”

Keith sat back, feeling his heart try to choke him for what he’d said.

“You can’t be modest for the most part. Especially when you’re a walking genetic lottery and it’s hard to expose yourself honestly.”

“Was it just the photographer?” Keith ventured, rubbing the inside of his arm.

“In this line of work, it’s a little bit from everyone and-” Lance paused. “Wait, we just met. Why am I telling you this?”

“Because I clearly don’t know anything.” Keith pinched himself slightly. “I’m sorry, for what I said. It’s just, I guess it was based on previous prejudice. That was awful of me and-”

“Hey, it’s okay. At least you know you made a mistake.” Lance smiled smally. “Anyways, I still haven’t heard much about you. What’s there to know?”

Biting back a ‘nothing much’, Keith went, “I photographed nature as a hobby when I was in high school. Had a lot of trouble sleeping so I’d catch a lot of sunrises in a lot of different places.”

“Family moved a lot?”

“I moved families a lot.” Keith bit into a fry. “Foster kid. And so, I’ve seen a whole lot, over mountains, hills, oceans, and-”

“How’d you end up in New York?”

“I graduated from school in Canada and so New York was pretty close and-”

“You’re Canadian?”

“I was born in Florida, actually.”

“Florida is the devil’s state.” Lance rested his chin in his hand.

“I remember seeing like alligators on my front porch and the occasional snake here and-”

“Ha ha anyways let’s uh change the subject...do you want to get out of here?”

“What time is it?” Keith ventured warily.

“We’ve been here for like an hour and a half.” Lance looked at his near plate of food and Keith did the same. “I’ll call the waitress over, ask her if we can get boxes.” At that, the model cracked a smile and looked at Keith. “You know, like the song?”

“The what?”

“Oh my god. When we get back to my place, I’m totally showing-”

“Hang on.” Keith held up his hand. “This has been nice and all but I need to head back. I’ve got to catch the subway and-”

“I can give you a ride home, you know?” Lance rested his arm on his chair back. “My car’s back at Altea but-”

“That’s okay, thank you, really.”

The check came quick and everything moved in a blur.

They stood outside, the world passing them by.

“So-”

“So-”

Lance tucked his hands in his jeans. “Thank you, for coming today. It was a pleasure.”

Keith nodded. “And thank you, for the opportunity.”

They looked at one another, each still as if they were waiting for something to happen.

But nothing did.

Then.

Keith got back late, the city air and slight adrenaline from the day making it hard for him to sleep.

So, he uploaded the photos onto his computer, clicking through them in a precise and delicate fashion.

It wasn’t a minute or so later that he caught himself staring, zooming in on Lance’s face and ignoring the clothes completely, the rich blue like the middle of the sea and the browns of fall just around the corner. The gold was lovely but something else entirely had caught Keith’s attention, from both looks and words.

The sun was rising when he finished picking out the four best of each outfit and he compiled them all together, sending them to the team email. With that, he put his computer to sleep and the cars started honking outside, all itching to get to work.

Keith, meanwhile, picked up his camera and went out to the fire escape, catching the sun as it broke the uneven skyline once again.

\---

“These are fantastic. We’d love for you to come take some more, as in next week, if possible.” Keith cradled the phone against his ear, watching Allura watch him out of the corner of his eye.

“I think I can do that, yeah.”

“Lance seems to really love you, which-” Keith tuned out, his head going places they shouldn’t have. Allura came over, body jumpy in anticipation. “-and who knows, maybe he’ll make you his photographer when this is all over.”

“Ah, who knows? Okay, right. Next Thursday. Ok. Goodbye.” He hung up the phone and then looked at Allura. “Another shoot for the guy.”

“I can’t believe you’re so lucky! It’s such a once-in-a-lifetime chance to-”

“I can wait, really.” Keith watched Allura cross her arms and sigh. He moved to going back to editing and then she left and he was left to stew in his lie.

It was a long week and he knew the hours seemed to drag more than before.

Then, it was Thursday and Keith was doing another shoot, except with more color in the backdrop.

“It’s going to be fall, right?”

“Yeah, but color’s never a bad thing.” Lance sat near his mirror as Keith packed up. “Something about how color is still alive when it fades away. You know, like when leaves change color.”

“Right.”

Everything moved so fast.

“So, Keith, listen. I was thinking of getting some, I guess, like some candids done, but like tasteful. Like at sunrise, near the ocean.” Lance looked at his hands before making eye contact with Keith. “Do you think you’d be up for it?”

“I mean, it’s not exactly scenic beaches out here on the East coast and I would know, I lived in California for a couple years-”

“Or maybe on a rooftop, if that will work better.” He paused. “You up for it?”

It was then that Keith heard his own voice telling him to say yes, not Allura’s.

“When were you thinking?”

At that, Lance smiled and Keith wished his camera was still on in his hands when he offered an alternate solution, one that made Lance’s face brighter than the sun on the horizon.

\---

“I can’t believe you pulled this through.” Lance stood with his arms crossed, waiting for Keith to unlock the door. “I really can’t.”

“Well,” Keith finally got the key in, “I have my boss to thank. She has some connections.” The door clicked open and the inside glowed blue. “Come on.”

“I haven’t been here in ages.” The lights came on, low, and Lance low-whistled through his teeth. Wavy paths greeted them, and a few tanks filled with water changed colors without missing a beat. “I hope the jellyfish are awake.”

“Do you remember where they are?” Keith asked, turning his camera on, quiet in his movement.

“I’m pretty sure…” Lance raised his fist to his chin, and then used his other hand to map out imaginary movements. He did that for a few seconds before turning to face Keith with an excited expression. “Hey, I-”

Keith caught him, then looked at the picture. “That’s a nice one.” He looked at Lance, who pointed one way after looking at Keith a little too softly for a little too long. “Come on.”

They ended up trailing all over and Keith took so many pictures, many of the glowing tanks and jellyfish illuminating the slopes of Lance’s face. In the dark in some places, Keith could see the way his chin dived and curved, his eyelashes framing pinks and blues reflected off his clear eyes. It didn’t feel like a job, to find this beauty and bottle it up.

No, it was something different.

“We have to go to the tunnel, that’s the best thing, only slightly better than the jellyfish.” Lance took off and Keith followed, clicking through pictures as he walked only to bump right into Lance’s back.

“Oh, sorry-”

“Don’t worry about it.” Lance turned around and Keith realized he was very close. He looked at the model’s neck, white hood near the base sitting under a green cargo jacket. The zippers suddenly became very interesting as Keith waited for Lance to tell him to move.

He never did.

“Hey, Keith.”

“Yeah?”

“Look up.” Keith tilted his head up, seeing the slight silhouette of a shark swim overhead, lithe and quiet. Another crossed its old path and then some fish moved in the glowing blue of the lights, taking care to keep to their domain in the sky. “Pretty, right?”

“It’s actually a little more terrifying than anything.” Keith looked down, reaching for his phone, the screen unnaturally bright in his fingers. “Hey, it’s almost sunrise. Come on.”

Being on top of the aquarium was something new for the both of them.

The moon still sat in the sky as began to sink past the buildings, still awake for some reason. Lance watched the moon and Keith took a few pictures of the moon, craters and all. When the moon vanished, the sky grew lighter, bringing twilight to the city.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, it is.” Keith took some more pictures and froze when he saw Lance look at him, come closer. He lowered the camera, turning it off. “What is it?”

“I forgot to tell you,” Lance looked away then back, smiling. “It’s my birthday today.”

“Wish you would’ve told me earlier because I don’t exactly-”

“This is enough, Keith.” Lance said softly. “Being here, getting to spend time with you, even though it’s your job-”

“No, not in this case.” Keith looked right back at him. “Funny, I know. Didn’t expect this.”

“What?”

“To like you enough to feel bad about not having a present.” The sky turned pink slowly behind Lance, another New York morning. Keith smiled, holding onto his camera as he watched Lance just stand there. “To think you’re better than any sunrise I’ve ever seen, that you’re a fleeting sensation I think I want to chase.” His heart fluttered in his chest. “Photographing you is nice, but a picture is nothing compared to the real thing.”

Lance stood still, watching Keith and Keith internally cursed at himself for slipping in the moment.

“So, to sum it all up, happy birthday.”

Ah, whatever.

Keith walked forward, placing a kiss on Lance’s cheek. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“You can’t just say the most romantic shit I’ve ever heard like it was nothing?” Lance spoke, having a hard time looking Keith in the eye, which made the photographer smile just a little bit. “I mean, at this point, should I just ask you to be my-”

“Photographer?” Keith cocked his head and Lance just looked at him. “For fashion week? Of course.”

“Who are you-”

“I’m going to do it.” Keith smiled and Lance couldn’t help but smile back. “Just you watch.”

And he did, that and so much more for Lance McClain: model/boyfriend, someone better than any sunrise.

 

**Author's Note:**

> i think this is going to be my last fic for a tiny while while i build the skeleton for my novel. happy new year everyone! it's gonna be good, i can tell.


End file.
